Wombo by @the_grandbabadook
“BINGO SCHLINGO, it’s WOMBOWEDNESDAY…” yells indie-rock band Wombo in one of their chummy-personality-fueled Instagram captions. Broadcast from drummer Joel Taylor’s basement (no, not his mom’s), the Kentucky-based rockers regularly livestream jam sessions and new singles on their social media accounts.
Wombo’s carefree charm and dreamy, cryptic melodies prevent doomscrolling from ever taking hold. Instead, swiping through their channels feels like an intimate online exchange with the quintessential mysterious, quirky alt-girl — whimsical, intriguing. If Wombo were personified into a cult-classic crush, it would probably be the love child of Donna Pinciotti and Ramona Flowers. Ya know, drop the Evil Exes, add a few extra dashes of flower-power basement party vibes, and turn up the stereo.
It all began when Sydney Chadwick (bass guitarist and vocalist) and Cameron Lowe (guitarist) joined forces with Taylor a few years after exiting an earlier band. At first, the three started jamming, as friendly musicians do, but eventually, in the words of aquatic hero Patrick Star, “You know, I wumbo, You wumbo, He she me, wumbo,”… and a band was born. Sometime in 2016, Wombo started wumboing, making their official live debut in August 2016. As organic as their origin story is their sound — an unaltered fusion of the artistic talents, sensibilities, and tastes of the three friends and bandmates. Staring at Trees, their first EP, begat 2018’s debut ful-length, Blossomlooksdownuponus, and by now Wombo have an honest-to-goodness oeuvre of dream-rock rooted in escapism and curiosity, 2022’s Fairy Rust LP and a 2023 EP Slab being the latest beguiling examples.
Maybe you know Wombo. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you wombo know Wombo (sorry, we had to). No matter what, you will want to see the trio perform live at Winterland in Jacksonville alongside alt-rockers Blonde Redhead and psychedelic-surf-rockers Kairos Creature Club. “It’s been a while!” since these Bluegrass Staters have performed in the Sunshine State, Chadwick told PureHoney.“We’re excited to be coming back to Florida to play.” In classic cool-girl-mystique-style, she left it there with us wanting to know more.
Wombo perform Friday, February 23 at Winterland in Jacksonville. instagram.com/womborocks winterlandpresents.org ~ Amanda Moore
